PIG was absolutely the best training glass, not least because it forced me, as a beginner, to work slowly. However, now that I have the skills, not to mention the torch and concentrator to work faster, that is of course what I prefer to do.

6 teal focals made with pixie dust. The thinner of the plain bicones is an older bead; the rest were made today. Longest, 55mm/2-1/4".

What this meant was that I boiled a lot of glass—one of those other sins pixie dust is good at covering up. But actually, I'm pretty happy with these beads. 5 of the 6 stand up independently on what I think of as the "bottom" end. I tried putting the pixie dust (blue hilite) in a shallow dish, and that allowed me to cover the beads more evenly, and also to keep the shape more even during the application process (in order for the pixie dust to stick the glass must be hot, and it's hot enough to deform without care.)

These were practice beads: I have an request for similar beads, and since it's been awhile since I've made this style, I wanted to warm up. Today's beads are the result of that happy exercise.

beads (mostly), photo, and file, all created 19jan09. For individual photos, see the etsy listings, which are linked in the intro.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.